October 3 Illinois History Minute

It’s October 3rd, the day in 1955 that the children’s TV show Captain Kangaroo premiered on CBS --- featuring Sandwich Illinois native Hugh Brannum as Mister Green Jeans and other characters. Before beginning his three decade run on Captain Kangaroo, Brannum had performed as “Uncle Lumpy” alongside Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians, and on his own children’s records.

During this week in 1932, Illinois native and future president Ronald Reagan called his first football game on the radio --- Iowa defeating Bradley Tech --- beginning a five-year stint as a sports broadcaster for Iowa’s WOC and WHO.

And Chicago native Hugh Hefner, who published a college humor magazine while a student at the University of Illinois, put out the first issue of Playboy this month in 1952.